• Accommodations, Modifications, Supplementary Aids and Services

    What’s Required

    Supplementary aids and services, special education, and related services must be based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable. The Admission Review and Dismissal (ARD) Committee must determine the needed supplementary aids and services be provided to the child, or on behalf of the child (, 20 USC 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(IV)19, and ).

    The term "supplementary aids and services " means aids, services, and other supports that are provided in General Education classes, other education-related settings, and extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable the child with a disability to be educated with non-disabled children to the maximum extent appropriate ( and 20 USC 1401(33)).

    The ARD Committee must determine needed program modifications or supports for school personnel that will be provided to the child to enable the child to advance appropriately toward attaining the annual goals, be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum, and be afforded an equal opportunity to participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities including meals, recess periods, counseling services, athletics, transportation, health services, recreational activities; special interest groups or clubs sponsored by the Local Educational Agency  (LEA), referrals to other agencies that provide assistance to individuals with disabilities, and employment of children, including both employment by the LEA and assistance in making outside employment available (, , and 20 USC 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(IV)).

    The LEA is required to provide training to an educator who works primarily outside the area of Special Education only if the educator does not possess the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the IEP developed for the child receiving instruction from the educator (and .

    What We Do

     

    Accommodations/Modifications:

     

    Accommodations

    An accommodation is a change in the teaching or testing procedures in order to provide students access to information and to create an equal opportunity to demonstrate content knowledge and skills.

    Instructional accommodation does not change what the student is expected to master; therefore, curriculum content remains intact.

    In Texas, accommodation is defined as practices and procedures that are "intended to reduce or even eliminate the effects of a student's disability, but do not reduce learning expectations".

    Modifications

    A modification is a change in what the student is expected to learn and/or demonstrate.

    An instructional modification indicates what is being taught-the curriculum content is altered.

    As an example, students may not be required to learn all of the course objectives but only targeted objectives.

    A curriculum modification reduces the content and skills the student is required to learn.

    In Texas, a modification is defined as "practices and procedures that change the nature of the task or target skill".

    Accommodations and modifications should be individualized and routinely used during classroom instruction and testing. Data regarding the use of accommodations and modifications, such as observational reports and/or assignment/test scores with/without the use of accommodations should be collected and analyzed on a regular basis to determine (a) if the accommodations are being implemented as specified by the student's ARD Committee and (b) if the student is benefitting from the use of the accommodations and modifications.

    Supplementary Aids and Services

    Supplementary aids and services are provided in general education classes, other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with non-disabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.

    Frequency, Duration, and Location of Services:

    The student's IEP must include information about the number of services that will be provided so that the level of  will be clear to parents and other ARD Committee members. The ARD Committee is responsible for documenting in the student's IEP the projected date for the beginning of services and the anticipated frequency, location, and duration of those services. Requirements for documenting the provision of related services include:

    • Frequency: describes how often the child will receive the service(s), e.g., number of times per day or week. If the services are provided less than daily, then the conditions for the provision of services must be clearly specified within the ARD documents using a weekly reference (ex: 1 hour per week, 30 minutes every two weeks).
    • Duration: describes how long each "session" will last (number of minutes) and when the services will begin and end (starting and ending dates).
    • Location: describes where the services will be provided (in the general education classroom or another setting such as a special education resource room.

    Additional information regarding frequency, duration, and location is available at:

    Students with disabilities must have an instructional day to be commensurate with students without disabilities. The ARD Committee will determine the appropriate instructional setting and length of day for each student.

    Consideration of Special Factors

    The IEP should document consideration of special factors including:

    • The communication needs of the student,
      • In the case of a student with limited English proficiency, the language needs of the student as needs relate to the student's IEP, and
    • In the case of a student whose behavior impedes his/her learning or that of others, consideration of positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and support to address that behavior.